Note 2 — Chapter XCVIII · (Vetála 24.)

But the queen’s daughter said to her, “Mother, do not be afraid, these are not bandits, these two gentle-looking well-dressed persons are certainly some nobles come here to hunt.” However the queen still continued to hesitate; and then Chaṇḍasinha got down from his horse and said to the two ladies, “Do not be alarmed; we have come here to see you out of love; so take confidence2 and tell us fearlessly who you are, since you seem like Rati and Príti fled to this wood in sorrow at Cupid’s having been consumed by the flames of Śiva’s fiery eye. And how did you two come to enter this unpeopled wood? For these forms of yours are fitted to dwell in a gem-adorned palace. And our minds are tortured to think how your feet, that deserve to be supported by the lap of beautiful women, can have traversed this ground full of thorns. And, strange to say, the dust raised by the wind, falling on your faces, makes our faces lose their brightness from despondency.3 And the furious heat of the beams of the fierce-rayed sun, as it plays on your flower-soft bodies, burns us. So tell us your story; for our hearts are afflicted; we cannot bear to see you thus abiding in a forest full of wild beasts.”